- Zeiad Tamer
Manchester City close to signing Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City are edging closer to completing a €17.5m deal for Borussia Dortmund and Switzerland centre-back Manuel Akanji; as first reported by Sam Lee, Pol Ballus, and David Ornstein of The Athletic and since confirmed by several other journalists.
The 27-year-old has not made an appearance for Dortmund this season and is in the final year of his deal, having refused to re-sign with the Rhine club.
Akanji has been pushed out of the BVB starting eleven by recent signings Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck, whilst the Premier League champions currently have two fit central defenders in John Stones and Ruben Dias, with Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte working on respective injury comebacks and academy graduate Luke Mbete linked with a loan move to Huddersfield.
In his pre Nottingham Forest press conference, prior to the Akanji news breaking, Pep Guardiola was asked if the Blues' transfer business had concluded, to which he replied:
"I don't know what will happen."
Some have speculated that the move for the central defender perhaps indicates more severe issues for the likes of Ake and Laporte, but Ballus has allayed those concerns on Twitter after he confirmed that the mooted transfer is not related to present injuries being more severe than anticipated, but rather having more options as no senior departures are expected - per reports.
Akanji, who is known to be very comfortable on the ball, joined Dortmund from Basel in 2018 and had been a first-team regular before the acquisitions of Sule and Schlotterbeck. The Swiss international has made 158 appearances for BVB and has been capped 41 times.
Written by: @Zersailles
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